![]() I learned this Bible story as a child, and it was always taught with the woman, the widow, being lifted up as an example of generosity and giving our all to God. The second part of our lesson for today might be familiar to you. In our gospel lesson today, we encounter Jesus seeing and speaking about the actions of a widow, and so we should perk up, knowing already that widows are a particular focus of compassionate attention by God in the scriptures, and a marginalized group who God directs God’s people to consider with particular attention and responsibility. When we read the gospels, we see Jesus live out a ministry that focuses on being in relationship with the most vulnerable people too. Perhaps today we would not think of the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger in these same “categories,” but those most at risk in our society today are not so different, are they? We’re responsible for and to the most vulnerable. The most vulnerable belong to God in a special way, and so it follows that if we seek to love like God loves, the most vulnerable are meant to be special to us, too. God’s love and God’s commandments call for special care for those most at risk in the community. In the Hebrew Bible, these people are sometimes called the quartet of the vulnerable - the poor, the orphaned, the stranger or foreigner, and the widow. In the witness of the scriptures, we see that God’s way of loving gives special attention to those who are the most vulnerable. That probably sounds like an enormous task - and it is! It’s our whole life’s work! We’re responsible for one another because we belong to one another - not as in ownership of each other, but in relationship with one another, bound together by God’s love for us. We become responsible for everyone for whom God is responsible. If we strive to love like God, we love who God loves and try to make them the recipient of our care and attention just as God has done. It means that if someone belongs to God, they belong to us too. It means being part of a community that strives to love like and love who God loves. I think, actually, it’s what it means to be part of the living communion of saints, what we might call the body of Christ. That sense of belonging - that when I become a part of this community, these stories, your stories, your people, belong to me too - that’s not just a mindset I think the community of faith holds when we’re thinking about remembered saints who have died. I learn their stories, and they become mine too, a part of me too, even though I never met them. I’m a clergyperson in the United Methodist Church, and over the years that I’ve served in different communities, I’ve often felt that - I arrive to a new place of ministry, bringing my own memories of loved ones with me, and I arrive to meet, through my congregations, a new set of saints. As I share in this community, I share in your stories. I don’t have to have known your people, your saints for them to become mine, as I become part of this community. That’s what’s so sacred to me, though, about celebrations of All Saints or Dia de los Muertos. But I don’t know many of you well yet, and I don’t yet know the stories and people of this congregation - the saints that have shaped this community of faith. I worshiped online with you, and was thrilled to be able to start attending in person this fall. I’m new to Christ Church - I started worshipping here because Mark invited me when I started back at Drew for the PhD program last fall. ![]() You are the result of the love of thousands.” We think about the love of thousands that shapes us in this place, in this season. A favorite quote of mine comes from Native American poet Linda Hogan, “Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. These celebrations call us to think of the saints of the whole Church - not just in this congregation, but all those who have shaped us. But these celebrations are broader, too, than remembering our own personal saints, the ones who we knew in person. These celebrations are about, in part, remembering people who have died, people who have been a part of our lives, and part of who we are, both individually, and as a congregation. Last week in worship, we thought about All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.
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